STAFF at Nelson furniture firm Buoyant have dropped tribunal claims over lost wages as the price for saving their jobs.

The future of 300 workers at Buoyant has been secured following a decision by rival group Wade Furniture to buy the company out of administrative receivership.

But Paul Hoggarth, regional industrial officer with the GMB union, said: "A very heavy price has been paid for saving their jobs."

The 300 remaining staff at Buoyant Upholstery agreed to drop claims for lost wages, following a pay cut of up to £100 a week and the stopping of Christmas holiday pay and production bonuses, as part of the deal struck with Nottingham-based Wade expected to be completed today.

Mr Hoggarth said claims on behalf of 180 workers made redundant when the firm went into receivership last month for lost wages, failure to consult properly on redundancies and cases of alleged sex discrimination against women on maternity leave, would still be pursued through employment and industrial tribunals.

"I'm extremely pleased that a company with the good reputation that Wade has has purchased Buoyant and protected the livelihoods of the workers there," he said.

"Wade must, as quickly as possible, raise morale by improving the terms and conditions of staff."

Mr Hoggarth added: "Our members had claims in to an industrial tribunal. We had to get an agreement to relinquish their claims because Wade wasn't prepared to bid as much with that liability. Its bid would have been much lower, lower than others, with the claims in place. They were the only company interested in the Nelson workforce.

"I explained to the workers that my prime responsibility was to keep the factory open and they agreed with that."

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